Westford Academy breaks title drought
For years, Quinn Schwab had been chasing what had become a seemingly unattainable goal of bringing Westford Academy back to the pinnacle. The school had dominated the Massachusetts swimming landscape at one point, but witnessed its impeccable run fall into a lull, at least in recent seasons.
Thanks to the Providence College commit’s heroic performance Sunday night, the Ghosts were able to exorcize their demons. Schwab won the 200-yard freestyle race (1:41.74), and also anchored his team to a victory in the 200 freestyle relay (1:28.16), as Westford
Academy claimed its first Div. 1 boys swimming and diving title since 2015 at MIT.
“This was incredible,” said Westford Academy coach Harriet Kinnet. “We had eight seniors, and they all made it to states. That’s unheard of. It’s awesome, and I’m so proud of them.”
The Ghosts compiled a team-high 220 points en route to clinching the hardware. Yet for most of the day, they chased BC High and Minnechaug (who finished tied for second) both got off to flying starts.
In the early going, it appeared that it was going to be a two-horse race.
It wasn’t until the final few events that hundreds of fans at the Zesiger
Sports and Fitness Center began to realize what Kinnett and her fellow coaches already had. By tinkering with its lineup in the 200 freestyle relay, Westford Academy had put itself in prime position to stage a massive rally down the stretch.
“I don’t think anybody out here thought we were going to stack our two-free relay,” chuckled Kinnett. “So we kinda (did). It was a big momentum turn.”
The move paid dividends. Aedan Curtin, Zach Ouellette, Brian Hall and Schwab nipped LincolnSudbury by .16 seconds to place first in the event. Then, once officials collected results from the diving competition, it turned out that Jeremiah
Small had finished third overall (491.75 points) for the Ghosts. By the moment that the 400 freestyle relay kicked off, Westford Academy had leapfrogged into first place among competing schools with 188 points. Meanwhile, Minnechaug was standing in second with 179, while BC High followed in third with 173.
In what has become somewhat of a unique trend recently, the latest MIAA meet came down to its final heat.
BC High’s team of Sam Craft, Gerhardt Hoover, Alex Yun and David Topi clocked in first at 3:09.72, while Minnechaug’s unit of Alexander Parent, Zachary Parent, Zavier Villanueva and Joshua Parent placed second (3:11.02). But Westford Academy finished third (3:11.92) behind the group of Hall, Curtin, Schwab and Oliver Yorke, clinching the crown for the Ghosts. The win for Westford Academy snapped a streak of six consecutive Div. 1 titles for St. John’s Prep, which placed fourth overall with 164.50 points.
“We had it scored out,” Kinnett said. “And we needed to finish third or have BC High beat Minnechaug. Both of those things happened. Once we placed third, we knew we had won the meet.”
Tommy Hagar made waves as an individual for Xaverian, shattering his own state record in the 100 backstroke event (48.19 seconds), while also setting a meet record in the 100 butterfly race (48.74). Minnechaug senior Joshua Parent automatically earned AllAmerican recognition with a first place finish in the 200 IM (1:48.11), while earning All-American consideration with a victory in the 100 breaststroke (56.12).
“It was a long time coming,” said Schwab. “Four years… really wanted to win this year. Love my teammates, they swam awesome today. Everyone, top-to-bottom. We got a lot of good points out of everybody. Diver especially, Jeremiah Small, was awesome today. So, just a great feeling. We’ll live this one for a while.”